Convenience is good? No, inconvenience is even better!!

This may seem sudden, but how did the lifestyle changes caused by the coronavirus in 2020 alter your perspective?

"Can't meet"
"Can't go"
"Can't talk"

Things that were once taken for granted suddenly became impossible.

Among these, the "freedom of movement" was likely restricted for everyone.

Did you also experience inconvenience? While it's obvious, if we're talking about convenience versus inconvenience, it's definitely "inconvenient." On the other hand, what benefits have all the "convenient experiences" brought by the rise of remote meetings and voice-based SNS platforms offered you?

"I can contact them instantly, but I can't gauge the distance, which is stressful."
"We should be able to understand each other if we met in person, but strange misunderstandings have increased."

Don't you think some people feel this way? And don't you agree that many of these things often don't click until you actually experience them?

Convenient? Or inconvenient? As that boundary dissolves, what I want to focus on is:

"What do people truly desire?" and "How can we create experiences that leave a lasting impression?"

To approach these answers, I want to introduce the truth that

the truth that " convenience isn't always unconditionally desirable; there are situations where inconvenience exists, whether intentional or not, or where embracing inconvenience can actually spark joy or create seeds of empathy."

And how to apply this truth to " experience design."

The theme for the first of this three-part series is:

"Is convenience good? No, inconvenience can be even better!!"

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Series List:You Can't Understand People's Hearts Without Taking the Long Way!? ~The Marketing of Inconvenience Benefits: Haste Makes Waste~

Have you heard of the concept of "inconvenience benefits"?

 

The term " fubeneki " (inconvenience benefits ). You might have heard it in books, TV shows, or elsewhere.

【What is Fubeneeki?】
It's a concept developed since the 2000s, primarily by Professor Koji Kawakami of Kyoto University. It refers to the utility gained precisely because something is inconvenient. Currently, interdisciplinary research groups and the virtual research organization "Inconvenience Benefit Systems Laboratory" are active, applying this concept in various fields like driving assistance and tourism support.

 

Specifically, it refers to things like the following:

• Artificial flowers are easy because they don't need watering, but I prefer pouring love into real flowers that will wither if neglected.
• School trip snacks were always limited to "300 yen or less" (for some reason, this rule never changed), and that's precisely why we got so hyped at the snack corner. I still remember that excitement vividly.
• Even though you can watch artists' live performances on YouTube, I'll never forget that day when I deliberately trekked deep into the mountains in a raincoat to a summer festival venue, got muddy and soaked to the bone, and saw that stage.

What do you think? (Please try to recall your own experiences.)

What these examples have in common is this:

" The very presence of effort, detours, hardship, and burden makes the experience itself more flavorful and memorable (compared to when they're absent)."

"Ah, yeah, that's a thing, isn't it? I get it," isn't that something everyone can vaguely relate to?

On the other hand, some might have thought, "Isn't this just nostalgic 'admiration' from old folks who lived through the Showa era?" (I say this in contrast to 'Instagrammability').

Some might have felt that way.

However, data has emerged showing this is not a nostalgic phenomenon at all.

What our collaborative research with Professor Kawakami over the past two years revealed is a surprising fact: "It's actually teens and twenties, and women more than men, who show higher levels of empathy and interest in this concept."

Yes. The fact that this resonates deeply with the smartphone generation, the digital native generation, Generation Z (call them whatever you like—they're the generation for whom "convenience" is a given) suggests something... Are you perhaps someone from the marketing world?

[Resistance to Convenience (Convenience Fatigue)]

• Nearly 40% of respondents (36.1%) feel "resistance" toward excessive convenience.
• This tendency is stronger among women (particularly prominent among teens and those in their 50s).
• Could this be related to social media fatigue among women? Or perhaps an aversion to AI and advanced technology?

Nowadays, you can Google and find solutions that seem correct at first glance. If you want to cook, you can pull up recipes instantly wherever you are. Yet, surprisingly, passionate comments like "But then, can that really be called your own skill?"—comments that make you feel like you're living in the latter half of a 100-year life—are coming from men and women in their teens and twenties.

The more AI and robots replace human actions, the more something gets taken away

The fact that people feel uneasy or harbor a vague anxiety about excessive convenience is evident when we look back at terms popular since the early 2000s, like "smartphone fatigue," "SNS fatigue," and "digital detox."

Regarding this, Professor Kawakami's book introduces a mechanism: "Humans are wired to feel reassured by principles rooted in 'physics'—the tangible, understandable mechanisms right before our eyes (a businessperson who makes eye contact, listens attentively, nods, and takes notes with a pencil is more trustworthy than a 'successful-looking businessperson' who swipes endlessly on smartphones and tablets without making eye contact)." Ah, "physics"—it really clicked for me.

This also applies to the phenomenon of cassette tapes and vinyl records becoming popular among young people (the perspective that it's cool to see the needle physically tracing the grooves on the vinyl or the head physically rubbing against the lead-colored tape).

Can you see how deliberately choosing to engage in "inconvenient activities" that only humans can perform is full of potential? It can become a seed for empathy or a powerful motivation for living a life filled with personal joy.

Let me reiterate the key point of this series here:

" The concept of inconvenience benefits extends beyond engineering and can be applied to advertising communication and experience design."

I actually realized this about two years ago.

Simply put, the inconvenience benefit mindset seems perfectly functional even within traditional marketing, advertising, and promotion. However, as I now reflect on the profound transformation our era has undergone, I realize that insight was merely the starting point.

Corporate marketing methods inevitably reflect not only shifts in consumer behavior but also underlying changes in the zeitgeist. "From product consumption to experience consumption," "purpose branding," "influencer marketing," and so on... We need to uncover the enduring, universal principles underlying these labels that define each era. Beyond that, I believed it would become possible to design "optimal inconvenience."

The value lies in what remains undiscovered. The birth of a community that turns this exploratory phase into co-creation.

"The inconvenience we willingly embrace—like deliberately going out of our way—has gained relative value precisely because it has become harder to achieve. Moreover, in the coming era, might this 'inconvenience benefit' become the very force that generates emotional richness?"

Holding this near-conviction, I recalled a person I'd reunited with after 25 years: Mr. Wataru Nozaki, Director and CCO (now President and CEO) of Smiles, author of a book on customer psychology centered on the theme of N=1. I immediately shared this idea with Mr. Nozaki.

His response expanded the concept dramatically: "Smiles' approach to customer service design and experience design aligns closely with your conviction. From cultural anthropology and behavioral psychology perspectives, there must be other motivational triggers that should be categorized. I'm interested in exploring these, including inconvenience benefits."

This led to the creation of the 'Undiscovered Benefit (including inconvenience benefits) ' collaborative research community.

We named the collective term for these values—often overlooked in the shadow of convenience, including inconvenience—'Undiscovered Benefit'. We aim to implement this concept in society by applying it to corporate activities.

I myself left Dentsu Inc. after nearly 20 years to establish a small corporation that creates seamless connections between consumers and companies/brands through music and art experiences. I also participate in the New Horizon Collective, G.K., a life shift platform for former Dentsu Inc. employees, where I organize and produce initiatives for this community.

See you next time!

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